1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improvement in an automatic lubricator for an injection molding machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Movable parts of an injection molding machine, for example, a sliding part or a rotating part in an injection mechanism section, a mold clamping section, a mold thickness adjusting section and an ejector mechanism section are generally lubricated by direct supply operation of lubricant using a grease gun or the like.
An automatic lubricator which is used to perform centralized lubrication by using an electrically-driven lubricating pump connected to piping has been known conventionally. However, the conventional automatic lubricator performs only lubricating operation by automatically operating a lubricating pump at predetermined lubrication intervals. If a variation occurs in the operation environment such as cycle time and ambient temperature of the injection molding machine, the conventional lubricator cannot respond to this variation, so that excess or insufficient lubricating operation is performed undesirably.
Also, even if the lubrication intervals are fixed, the lubrication quantity per one pump operation is varied by the operation environment, so that the residual quantity of grease in a reserve tank cannot be predicted accurately. Therefore, there is a fear that the lubricant refilling work delays, resulting in hindrance to lubricating operation.